I was looking for feedback on this setup.
The item numbers are from Newegg if you need more info.

Of cource, with any of these components, I am ok with any thoughts or ideas on changes.

ATRIX CSCI-L8033-C43 Black SECC steel sheeting FCC class CB&CE approved ATX Mid Tower Computer Case 480W Power Supply - Retail
Item #: N82E16811209022

LITE-ON 20X DVD±R DVD Burner Black IDE Model LH-20A1P-33 - Retail
Item #: N82E16827106249

2 x Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3750640AS 750GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM
Item #: N82E16822148134

Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3320620AS (Perpendicular Recording Technology) 320GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM
Item #: N82E16822148140

Hauppauge WinTV-HVR 1800 MCE Kit 1128 NTSC/ATSC/QAM/FM TV Tuner Card w/MCE Remote - Retail
Item #: N82E16815116015

MSI NX8500GT-MTD256EH GeForce 8500 GT 256MB 128-bit GDDR2 PCI Express x16 HDCP Ready Silent Heatsink Video Card - Retail
Item #: N82E16814127301

nMEDIAPC ZE-C68 All-in-one USB 2.0 Card Reader w/ USB Port - Retail
Item #: N82E16820132016

SYBA PCI-Express 1394b FireWire Card Model SD-PEX-FWB - Retail
Item #: N82E16815124050

CORSAIR DOMINATOR 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model TWIN2X4096-8500C5DF - Retail
Item #: N82E16820145197

GIGABYTE GA-EP35-DS3L LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
Item #: N82E16813128337

Intel Core 2 Quad Q6700 Kentsfield 2.66GHz LGA 775 95W Quad-Core Processor Model BX80562Q6700 - Retail
Item #: N82E16819115027


I could exchange the Q6700 with the Q6000 if it is overkill.
I could probably go down to 2GB, but if I also run Windows, I may need it.

Regarding the video card, I would like HDMI and DVI. Svideo or RCA "out" would be nice. I don't want to convert VGA to DVI or DVI to HDMI with any sort of adapter.

I can exchange the Hauppauge WinTV-HVR 1800 with the 1600 model. I only choose the 1800 because it used up one of the smaller express PCI slots, leaving the normal PCI slots available for more common cards. I'll be adding more tuner cards at some future date.

The video card I have chosen doesn't have a fan, which is nice, but the heat sink may take up 2 slots because it is so large.
The replacement video cards (which also have UVD) I have found are below. They range from 64 bit to 128 bit and have different core clock speeds, but are basically the same. Is UVD valuable?

PALiT AE/240XS+HD26 Radeon HD 2400XT 256MB 64-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Ready Video Card - Retail
Model #:AE/240XS+HD26
Item #:N82E16814260074

PALiT AE/260PS+HD21 Radeon HD 2600PRO 256MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Ready Video Card - Retail
Model #:AE/260PS+HD21
Item #:N82E16814260075

PALiT AE/260XS+HD21 Radeon HD 2600XT 256MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card - Retail
Model #:AE/260XS+HD21
Item #:N82E16814260077

Sounds like a nice windows box but some of it may be more than you need to run knoppmyth well. A $40 video card with that horsepower behind it will work well in KM. Have you thought about the Dragon? It is the Knoppmyth reference platform.

http://mysettopbox.tv/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=4220

You may want to look into the Tier 1 forum for some good solid Linux compatible devices. This will save you some headaches, I promise. This is another reason why the Dragon is a great box. Wish it was available when I started.

Currently the Hauppauge HD tuner cards are not fully ready to go driver wise. You can get them running but there are easier/cheaper solutions. The HD Homerun is a dual HD tuner that is network based. I use the older PCHDTV 3000. But there are other nice compatible cards out there. You should also consider the source of what you want to capture; broadcast TV, cable or satellite. This will matter.

You didn't mention what resolution of video you intend to work with.

I presume from the specs (which are a bit of overkill) that you
want high def. Do you want as high as say 1080p high def?

I am not familiar with the HVR-1800 (or 1600) so I can't comment
about them.

The use of a quad core processor may be less effective than you
would guess. I suspect that there are some processes that are
pretty much single threaded and thus a faster clocked dual core
processor may serve you better than a slower clocked quad core
processor.

The use of 4 gig of memory may cause you problems. 4 gig was the
limit on the first pentium processors and it takes a special kernel
to use more than 3 gig from what I remember. Windows is the
same way as I recall. Unless you are running 64 bit Windows,
or perhaps Vista, you run into problems over 3 gig.

I suspect that the 16x PciX display will be fast enough. A couple
years ago the way to do it was to use AGP because it had a faster
bus transfer rate than PCI. Geforce video cards are preferred as
they have good enough support that they usually "just work"
although recently ATI has started releasing good drivers for their
cards.

Stay away from VIA chipsets if you can. My understanding is that
VIA (especially the old ones) have hardware bugs. I kind of recall
that the problems showed up more in the Hauppauge PVR-XXX line
of capture cards. YMMV.

Cliff

_________________
R5F27 using R5F1 Nvidia drivers
HD-5500 analog from NTSC Sat Rx, with OTA DVB too
GeForce MX-440 SVideo tvout to a TV
Older dual core 3.4ghz Intel CPU
Asus P5PE-VM Motherboard
2 GB RAM
1 TB LVM2
VirtualBox
Samba

Based on the price of the Dragon, it seems like I'm spending about the same amount. I can probably save some money if I buy the parts separately, but if I go that route, I would probably just buy it directly.

I have looked at the Tier forums, but it's difficult to know exactly what will work in every possible combination. I could just buy exactly what someone else has posted, but then I seem to be missing some of my personal requirements.

Another reason for the extra horse power is that if Myth doesn't work out, I can fall back to Windows and not have any lack-of-power issues. So, a slight overkill doesn't bother me too much. However, I think I may drop to 2 GB of ram and then increase it later if I have to.

I did look at the Homerun, but I want 1 HD and 1 SD to start with...and again, if Linux doesn't work out, it appears that the Homerun may have Windows issues. (I'm trying to hit 2 bullseyes at once).

I plan to capture over the air HD and then either non digital cable or satelite SD (via svideo or RCA input). So, having both options would be nice.

I want to be sure I can handle everything up to 1080p. I also may run a copy of Windows inside Linux so I can download free HD content from iTunes. I may also use it as my main computer, so it will be a backend. I have a Netgear EVA8000 to play recorded content on my HD TV in another room. I'd like to see how that goes as a front end. I may have to purchase a different unit as a front end later.

With all that said, what video card would you recommend (with HDMI and DVI)?

The problems with the capture cards in the Dragon is that the cards also seem to have problems in Linux.

So, basically, my main 2 questions are what video card and capture card do people suggest to meet my requirements?

OTA HD recording is super easy to set up with any of the cards that are sold with the Dragon. HD Homerun works with WinMCE or SageTV etc.. As far as recording SD there are no stations in my area that do not broadcast in HD. I end up getting more channels because of the secondary streams that the companies broadcast.

Cable and Satellite are a different matter for HD. Read this post

http://mysettopbox.tv/phpBB2/viewtopic. ... highlight=

Hauppauge has a new device that is just out that does not have a tuner but Component inputs so you can capture from an HD set top box. This will be the future for premium channel capturing in Linux.

There are no broadcasts in 1080P. Cable or Sat included.

Will this box be connected to a TV? The easiest way right now is using DVI and VGA. If you aren't connecting the Myth box to the TV a $40 video card will work well for playback on a monitor.

I've not read up on the Netgear device. Seems that all the devices I have heard about have problems or huge limitations. One promising option is the AppleTV running MythTV natively or dual booting. I've placed my bet here. And it is $230.

http://mysettopbox.tv/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=16093

Just to let you know Apple's "HD" is pretty poor for being called HD. Might better fit in the Enhanced Definition field with its high compression and low bitrates. You can see their limits on the AppleTV page.

http://www.apple.com/appletv/specs.html

http://mysettopbox.tv/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=16093

I've used MCE in Vista and it's horrible!!!! Even the basic stuff is much better in KM. The biggest issue is the ability to do what you want with the recorded files.

I do know that 1080i is the highest over the air, however, I will be playing video files up to 1080p.

I would also like the option to capture SD cable channels (just analog cable channels, not digital) and possibly Svideo (or RCA) from a satellite box.

1 card would be best, but if it takes 2 (maybe one SD card with 2 inputs, 1 coax and 1 Svideo.....and the homerun) I guess that's ok to have extra inputs.

1 HD over the air
1 SD through coax (cable)
1 SD through RCA or S-video

I may need 2 capture cards/devices. If I can't do it with 1, what combination of 2 cards will allow me to do this (that still allows the option for Windows if I decide Linux doesn't work out for me)?

Hauppauge PVR-500 will take care of the 1 SD through coax and the 1 SD through RCA or S-Video.

HDHomerun will take care of OTA HD (and QAM, if you have it).

This is probably your best option, as both are very well supported in KnoppMyth (and Windows, if that's what you end up doing.) This would give you support for recording up to 4 channels (2 analog, 2 digital) at once.

_________________
Silverstone LC10|MSI K8N Neo4-F|1GB PC3200|Athlon 64 X2 4200+|NEC 3550A DVD-RW
750GB + 400GB w/Storage Groups|eVGA GeForce 7600 GS w/VGA out to Aquos 32" LCD |PVR-500|PVR-250|SiliconDust HDHomerun

I am running an HD-5500 (USD $129.00) from pchdtv.com to capture
OTA HD and svideo from my SD satellite box.

The HD-5500 also captures unencrypted digital cable too, but I do not
use that feature.

http://www.pchdtv.com/

Cliff

_________________
R5F27 using R5F1 Nvidia drivers
HD-5500 analog from NTSC Sat Rx, with OTA DVB too
GeForce MX-440 SVideo tvout to a TV
Older dual core 3.4ghz Intel CPU
Asus P5PE-VM Motherboard
2 GB RAM
1 TB LVM2
VirtualBox
Samba

I think this is a good idea. Clearly there is support with both operating systems. I'm sure I can put the second HD tuner to use.

I don't particularly need the FM tuner. Any chance a lower cost HVR (or PVR) model would do the same as the PVR 500 (minus the FM)? Or do you loose the streaming (PVR) options with HVR and Linux support?


Last thing...How about a regular video card?

required (without adapters)
1 HDMI output
1 DVI output
1 SD output (Svideo or RCA)
support in Linux and Windows

optional
1 VGA output

Thanks again guys, you've been very helpful.

Re: HDMI vs DVI. Check this other thread on HDMI:

http://mysettopbox.tv/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=18381

Since your motherboard has digital audio out, you don't need HDMI unless you eventually want the convenience of having the audio+video on a single HDMI cable.

If you want to connect to your TV via HDMI, you just get a DVI to HDMI cable... no adapter needed. I have my main KnoppMyth system connected to my TV that way (with digital audio going directly to my AV receiver).

This is true. However, be sure the TV in question has 1:1 pixel mapping over the HDMI input. I found out after the fact (didn't do my research) that my Sharp TV only has 1:1 pixel mapping over VGA. When I use HDMI, I end up with overscan problems. It's fine, the VGA looks good, but you should check to make sure HDMI is even a viable option with your TV.

_________________
Silverstone LC10|MSI K8N Neo4-F|1GB PC3200|Athlon 64 X2 4200+|NEC 3550A DVD-RW
750GB + 400GB w/Storage Groups|eVGA GeForce 7600 GS w/VGA out to Aquos 32" LCD |PVR-500|PVR-250|SiliconDust HDHomerun

I do have VGA, but not DVI on my TV. I would like to send audio down the same cable, so that's why I would like to do HDMI.

I have a Samsung LN46A750 and I don't see anything about "pixel mapping" or "1:1" (I assume that is what I look for)?

manual:
http://www.samsung.com/us/support/downl ... m=LN46A750

Why the SD output? It's ok, lots of cards have DVI, VGA, and S-Video output. But really, you're not going to want to switch to S-Video on a whim. It means swapping out your Xorg file, tweaking the scan settings again, then adjusting the size of the myth frontend desktop to deal with the reduced dimensions. It's kind of a pita. If you're doing it as a contingency in case your TV is in the shop for a week, I'd recommend a good book instead. Even a crappy book.

You are exactly correct. The SD is just contingency.

It looks like Samsung calls 1:1 pixel mapping "Just Scan" (p. 26 of the user manual). This feature is available for the HDMI input, so you should have no problems with your TV.

_________________
Silverstone LC10|MSI K8N Neo4-F|1GB PC3200|Athlon 64 X2 4200+|NEC 3550A DVD-RW
750GB + 400GB w/Storage Groups|eVGA GeForce 7600 GS w/VGA out to Aquos 32" LCD |PVR-500|PVR-250|SiliconDust HDHomerun